Oil Recommendation: Champion 4000 Watt Generator

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So it seems like more people are leaning towards a heavier weight, synthetic (5W-40 or 15W50) because of the hot ambient temps here as well as oil consumption because of it being an air cooled engine.

I can actually run either without much effort (use T6 5w40 in my Cummins and M1 15W50 in my Harley).


So between the two listed, which one would you lean more towards? I'm sure either will work and hold up just fine in all honesty. Oh and also, the generator will mostly be used on camping trips when no electricity is available, and possibly to run some power tools here and there.
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Here on BITOG, Cujet (who lives in Florida) swears by Mobil 15W-50 for all of his OPE.

Because the OP lives in Texas he should also use Mobil 15W-50.


I concur 100%. You northerners use your generators in ice storms when its -10 degrees. Us southerners use our generators in August when its 95 degrees out due to hurricanes typically. 30 weight offers "enough" protection usually in these temps. Problem is, 30 weight gets consumed so darn fast. Synthetic 5W40 and 15W50 consumes way less in these conditions.

I lived through the 2004 Florida hurricane season. Got hit with FOUR back to back hurricanes. Our power was out for like 50 days that summer. Peoples generators were throwing rods left and right. Easily 60-70% of the free FEMA generators (yay for gov) were sitting on the curb with blown up engines after a week or two. While most of this can be attributed to lack of proper maintenance and not checking oil frequently enough, the folks that ran heavier oil had eons less problems. Heavier oil (in our southern climate) has a lot more margin for error.

Op, I would run nothing thinner than 5W40 in Texas, in the summer. Use synthetic.


This was what I was talking about in my earlier post.
Even up North running them during the ice storm, people were throwing rods running dino 5w30 and 10w30 pcmo.
My belief is that after running for a couple 12 hour days the dino was shearing down which lead to rapid oil consumption.

I always recommend a quality synthetic or a HDEO for generator use.

In a perfect world, you could use dino PCMO and stop the generator every 40-50 hours for an oil change. In the real world, when the power is out, oil changes are the last thing on peoples mind.
 
I run 5w40 or 15w40 in my air cooled engines in Texas summers.

Does not burn a drop.

Usually a diesel type motor oil, Chevron Delo, Rotella, or whatever is on hand.
 
Originally Posted By: cronk
Even up North running them during the ice storm, people were throwing rods running dino 5w30 and 10w30 pcmo.
My belief is that after running for a couple 12 hour days the dino was shearing down which lead to rapid oil consumption.

In the real world, when the power is out, oil changes are the last thing on peoples mind.
I agree, but part of the problem is that most people know nothing about the OPE they own, just like the cars they drive and the appliances they use. Most people have a "turn the key and forget it" attitude and have no idea how long it's been since the oil was changed, if ever.

"Wait...you mean I have to DO something to it once in a while?!"
 
I am having a hard time believing folks had oil related failures with their generators.

Assuming the levels were correct and as long as the recommended weights were used for the suggested intervals they should have been fine.

I am betting neglect played a huge part in the failures.
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
I am having a hard time believing folks had oil related failures with their generators.

Assuming the levels were correct and as long as the recommended weights were used for the suggested intervals they should have been fine.

I am betting neglect played a huge part in the failures.
Many of these units are junk built never intended to run 24/7 full load just a bomb ready to go off
 
How many people buy a cheap generator and then run it 24/7? How many people run one 24/7 at all?
 
Originally Posted By: dave123
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
I am having a hard time believing folks had oil related failures with their generators.

Assuming the levels were correct and as long as the recommended weights were used for the suggested intervals they should have been fine.

I am betting neglect played a huge part in the failures.
Many of these units are junk built never intended to run 24/7 full load just a bomb ready to go off

Most home portable generators are recommended to run at approximately 1/2 load if run for longer periods of time. If you're running it 24/7 you should be changing the oil every other day, 48 hours, as 50 hours is the recommended OCI.

Whimsey
 
Originally Posted By: Whimsey

Most home portable generators are recommended to run at approximately 1/2 load if run for longer periods of time. If you're running it 24/7 you should be changing the oil every other day, 48 hours, as 50 hours is the recommended OCI.


This. Hardly anyone wants to change the oil on a generator every two days. But it is essential due to the heat, fuel dilution, and shearing.
 
So I know the OCI is recommended at 50 hours. So say I am camping for a week, running it for 8 hours a day...would you recommend I change the oil even when running a full synthetic such as Rotella T6 5W40 (which is what I went with by the way).

Oh and the generator seems to run slightly quieter and smoother with the 5W40 Synthetic over the 10W30 Semi-Syn. But it could just be wishful thinking on my part as well.
 
Originally Posted By: clintonhutson
So I know the OCI is recommended at 50 hours. So say I am camping for a week, running it for 8 hours a day...would you recommend I change the oil even when running a full synthetic such as Rotella T6 5W40 (which is what I went with by the way).


In my Briggs and Stratton generator's owner's manual they state ..."that use of synthetic oils does not alter the required oil change intervals: If you use the Rotella T6 5W-40, which is a synthetic heavy duty diesel/gas oil and it's new I'm sure if you ran to ~60ish hours you would be fine. That should get you through your week of camping. Just change it before you use it again.

Whimsey
 
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Originally Posted By: dave123
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
I am having a hard time believing folks had oil related failures with their generators.

Assuming the levels were correct and as long as the recommended weights were used for the suggested intervals they should have been fine.

I am betting neglect played a huge part in the failures.
Many of these units are junk built never intended to run 24/7 full load just a bomb ready to go off

Most home portable generators are recommended to run at approximately 1/2 load if run for longer periods of time. If you're running it 24/7 you should be changing the oil every other day, 48 hours, as 50 hours is the recommended OCI.

Whimsey


Ah ha! Failures were most likely due to negligence of the owners then. Who's surprised? Lol.

Surely a thicker oil cant hurt, but I'd follow the suggested intervals no matter what. Also, if one experiences long power outages, it proably wouldn't hurt to have a stash of oil for the geny too. I guess this is BITOG after all though.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad


Ah ha! Failures were most likely due to negligence of the owners then. Who's surprised? Lol.

Surely a thicker oil cant hurt, but I'd follow the suggested intervals no matter what. Also, if one experiences long power outages, it proably wouldn't hurt to have a stash of oil for the geny too. I guess this is BITOG after all though.
smile.gif



Great point about having extra oil on hand for the generator. A 5 quart jug of 5W-30 Mobil 1 HM will get you through many hours at a reasonable cost.

Whimsey
 
I have a funny story involving that same or a very similar generator. Ours is a Champion 3500 Watt / 4000 Watt peak model. We purchased it in the spring of 2013 after our experience with hurricane Sandy.

This generator is equipped with what the manufacturer calls a "Honda Pattern" OHV engine. When it arrived we put it through a shakedown run under load for the prescribed break in period, which was five hours if I recall. While that was going on I warmed up our mower and pressure washer, each equipped with real Honda GX160 or GCV160 engines with the intent of changing the oil on all three units at the same time.

A few months later in the summer the first extended power outage occurred. This was followed by another several weeks later. On those occasions the generator ran continuously under load for about 8 and twelve hours. The load included three refrigerators, ours plus a neighbor's, a chest freezer, and even our dishwasher with heated dry cycle. There were two additional power outages of shorter duration that summer as well.

When December rolled around I performed the annual oil change on the unit, only this time I cracked open the manual. It was only then that I discovered that the unit took 10w30 oil as opposed to the 5w20 Mobil 1 that goes in the other two machines. The morals of this story are 1) read the manual, 2) it's a tough little generator, and 3) Mobil 1 5w20 must be pretty good oil.
 
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Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Originally Posted By: dave123
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
I am having a hard time believing folks had oil related failures with their generators.

Assuming the levels were correct and as long as the recommended weights were used for the suggested intervals they should have been fine.

I am betting neglect played a huge part in the failures.
Many of these units are junk built never intended to run 24/7 full load just a bomb ready to go off

Most home portable generators are recommended to run at approximately 1/2 load if run for longer periods of time. If you're running it 24/7 you should be changing the oil every other day, 48 hours, as 50 hours is the recommended OCI.

Whimsey


What a lot of people miss about generator loading is the difference between starting and continuous loads. Our two refrigerators and one chest freezer have an estimated starting load of 3600 watts. The actual measured running load of those three items is only 1100 watts, and they don't necessarily start or run at the same time. We've run those items plus another 1200 watt heated dishwasher load, plus the neighbor's refrigerator and more on this little Champion generator. At present we connect ours thru a 10 circuit manual transfer switch having four 20 amp circuits and six 15 amp circuits. That may seem crazy, but it's all a matter of what is starting or running simultaneously. Using a manual transfer switch allows you the option to pick and choose such that you don't risk overloading the generator.

That was a rather long winded way of saying that a lot of generators are only operating at half their rated load anyway. Disregard this if you are powering something like an air conditioner.
 
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RT5 10w30. Full stop.

Stabil, premium non-ethanol gas with mmo and I've had no issues starting mine with gas that sat for a year.
 
Originally Posted By: webfors
RT5 10w30. Full stop.

Stabil, premium non-ethanol gas with mmo and I've had no issues starting mine with gas that sat for a year.


Just curious, but why premium fuel?
 
My Champion inverter generator I think had recommended 10w-30. I've only used Rotella, 5w-40 or 15w-40 in it year around no issues. Been running it every month for a few years, a few times most of a day/night and when it comes close to an oil change (40-50 hours) the level is still close to full.
Just like my Honda HRX mower, using the same Rotella as the generators.
 
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